10 things you must do to protect your home from burglaries

There are many different things that can be done to protect your home from burglaries. Following different home security steps will allow you to protect your house, your family and your personal belongings. This article will examine and discuss 10 of the most important things that you must do to protect your house from burglaries and break in attempts.

Doors and Windows

The first thing to do is to make sure that your doors and windows are secure. Your doors should be strong and installed with care by a professional. The locks should be of top quality and should be impossible to pick.

Having several locks for your door is a great way to increase the level of your security. Same goes for your windows. Your windows on every floor in your house should be enforced by installing a hard to break type of glass and secure locks. The window lock should be attached to the frame or should use some other type of secure construction.

Visibility

The second thing to do is to make sure that you can see what is going on outside. You need to check if any tree branches are preventing you from looking outside. If necessary, you should cut off these branches to increase the viewable area. This is important because you need to be able to look outside and see if there is any danged to your house, to your property or to your family.

Motion Sensor

The third thing to do is to install a motion sensor light outside. This way if someone knocks at your door, you will clearly see who that person is, even if it is dark outside. You will also be warned in advance is someone is coming close to your house and to your front door.

Window Dressing

The fourth thing you should do is to move all your valuables and expensive items away from the windows. If a burglar happens to walk by your house and sees that there is something valuable inside, this might give him or her good reason to try to break into your house. By making sure that your valuables cannot be seen from the windows, you are trying to prevent the possibility that the burglary might happen. Having curtains for your windows always helps.

Neighborhood Watch

The fifth thing that you must do is to sign up for the neighborhood watch program. This will not cost you much money but will definitely help you to protect your house. You neighbors will watch out for your house and your property and will call police in case something wrong happens.

Alarms

The sixth thing you must do is to install a good alarm system. Adding motion detectors to your alarm system is even better as it will increase the likelihood that your alarm will be triggered even by a very clever burglary attempt.

Monitoring

The seventh thing you must do is to sign up for the alarm monitoring service. This way the police department will be notified if your alarm is triggered by someone trying to break into your house. This is especially useful if you are not at home most of the time.

Lock Down

The eighth thing you must do is to make sure all your doors are locked when you are leaving the house. If you live in an apartment building, make sure that the main building and complex doors are locked after you leave. In you live in a house, make sure that your front door, your back doors, your garage door, your shed door and your main entrance gate are all locked. Same goes for all your window locks.

Utilities

The ninth thing you must do is to make sure that all of your water, gas and electrical equipment is functioning well to prevent the inside dangers: fire, water flooding, electrical fire, gas lick and many others. By spending an extra minute to check those things you can prevent many different dangers that can destroy your property, your belongings and may even endanger your life.

Smoke Detectors

The tenth thing you must do is to make sure that your house has operational smoke and fire detectors. You should check these detectors often to make sure that they have good batteries and that they are working. Carbon monoxide and natural gas detectors will also be extremely useful.